High fasting blood sugar may Increase Risk of Cognitive Impairment

The researchers obtained data from the prospective and observational cohort study on the brain health of 1015 elderly in Shanghai. Based on clinical evaluation and the scores of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), they divided elders into the MCI (n=444) and cognitively normal groups (n=571). They evaluated their fasting blood routine and blood biochemical indexes and collected their general demographic data by using a standard questionnaire.

Key findings of the study:

• Using binary logistic regression analysis, and after controlling several variables such as age and education, the researchers found that red blood cell count and fasting blood glucose were the influencing factors of MCI.
• However, as the area under the ROC curve of MCI predicted by red blood cell count was less than 0.5, they concluded that elevated fasting blood glucose was the risk factor of MCI and had a mild predictive effect.

The authors wrote, "To my knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate an inverse association between elevated fasting glucose and MCI."

They concluded, "Elevated fasting blood glucose may be a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment, but the above conclusions need to be verified by longitudinal studies."

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DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.739257